MudLark

Probably the best all round bike yet made is the Niner MCR (https://www.ninerbikes.com/products/mcr-9-rdo/). I have long been contemplating landing myself a frame. But find myself wondering if its going to do much more than my Trek Procaliber monster - and I suspect probably not. The Trek also gives one probably about the equivalent of 50mm of rear travel (11 vertical flex plus seat tube flex) but without a shock. And I can fit proper fast MTB tyres for when the occasion requires it. But the MCR is probably a faster pedalling bike on gravel because of geometry.

I think I got reasonably close by converting a Trek Procaliber into a gravel bike. I call it my GADA bike. Go Anywhere, Do Anything. It doesn't excel at any one thing but it does everything moderately well. You *can* go anywhere and do anything with it.

Hi guys, How the heck does one tell whether the tyre you are looking at is a 3/180tpi or a 4/240 tpi? They appear to be visually identical. Or close enough that I can't tell the difference! Any clues? Cheers ML

That is interesting. I did not know that Sunrace was a very good product. I have always been under the impression that it was a 'few tiers down'.

You sure know how to sweat your assets! ????

Now that IS a well used cassette! Do you find that it in any way reduces the chain life, or not at all?

Thanks Quagga!

In my case most of the wear occurs in the middle gears. Because I'm not such a strong rider. The cassette in the pic must by now have something not far from 10km on it, maybe even a little more. I religiously replace chains immediately at 0.5. It does not slip with a new chain. But by the time a cassette slips, it's really completely shot to heck! FWIW, I am keeping the cassette in service but on my second set of wheels. My primary set has XX1.

Hi guys, Curiosity question. How worn do you perceive this GX Eagle cassette to be? Mildly, moderately, severely? And would you replace it or keep running it a while longer?

Exactly what Prof Mahdi says.

Your optimism is touching. I hope you are right. But it is simply impossible to predict with certainty. Even as Gauteng drops off, other provinces may pick up. I don't know about other people, but in my milieu more people are getting sick and dying than I would have believed had somebody told me this would be the case three or four weeks ago.

And my experience has been that you see something is available and in stock on their website, you drive out to go and buy it only to find that they don't have it…

Ke???

Thank you very much guys. I get a lot of mileage out of a plain GX cassette. I guess going on about 10k km now. I'm not a very strong guy so can't put down as much power as some guys can. Advantage is my drivetrain lasts a while. And I religiously replace chains at 0.5. So I'll spring for a nitrided cassette and XX1 chain then. Should last me a pretty long time!

Hi guys, I'm trying to work out what the difference is between these two cassette types, other than for colour. Is there any difference in material, durability and so forth? I can't seem to find much information on it. I need to upgrade my old GX Eagle cassette which is now a bit worn out. Reading around, I understand that both of the cassettes referred to in the title line are made of chromoly. Although they are a lot more expensive than GX Eagle, I figure I should also get quite a bit more lifespan out of them given the better materials while also having the benefit of a slightly lighter cassette. Any advice or input much appreciated. Cheers, Mudlark

It really is application specific. But if you are riding XC in pretty much only dry conditions, its hard to beat the Black Chilli Race King 2.2s. But they're not so great for serious trail riding or slippery conditions. For general all round use some of the other options here are a much better suggestion. You really can't escape the question of application. A Mud Terrain tyre on a 4wd sucks on the freeway (it's noisier, your fuel consumption goes up and it gives long braking distances on wet tar) but a Highway Terrain tyre sucks off-road, especially when traction is an issue. The principles are no different with a bicycle.

Honestly, with a 14 kg bike, changing the wheels is not going to make that much of a difference. You'd be better off saving the money, trading in the bike and looking for a light cross-country bike if that's what matters to you. An older Trek 9.8 SL comes in at about 11.7 kg (factory numbers). But really, unless you are riding very competitively and aiming to get on a podium, for the most part it's a function of just ride and enjoy it. You're only competing with your mates, anyway. Whether you cross the line 50th or 150th doesn't matter all that much to anybody other than you. And the whole bodyweight thing… Look at it simply as a matter of your health. Being too light is no good either. And for many of us, the 'refrigerator penalty' is just too much too bear for being that little bit faster. It's all about balance. Unless you are a pro, cycling should add health and enjoyment to your life. Not misery…

Impossible to know. The Indian/Delta variant is mutating yet further. This wave could go like the December one and be over in a few weeks. Or it could be of a lot longer duration.

Radial lacing doesn't handle torsional forces very well. On a mountain bike and with disc brakes too, that's looking for trouble. I wouldn't ride it. That kind of lacing is common on rim brake road bikes because it results in a small bit of weight saving and slightly better aerodynamics. But you won't see a disc brake road bike with it. The reason for that is because with a disc brake set up the braking force is transferred to the rim through the spokes. And with disc brakes you can - and especially on a mountain bike usually do - have significant braking forces applied.

Hey guys, old thread but similar issue. Brand new Conti Race Kings. Never ridden. New pattern 240tpi. Tyres fitted. Rims are absolutely true. Tyres are square on the rims; bead alignment line is right all the way around. Front has a very small bit of wobble; nothing excessive. Back has about 4mm wobble. Looks worse with the eye but when you actually measure the relative movement of the sidewall casing when you turn the wheel, its circa 3mm to 5mm lateral movement. Is this within normal bounds? Looking round the web it seems like Contis once had - and apparently still have -a reputation for a bit of tire wobble.

Start with the basics. Are you sure your pressures aren't too high?

Unbelievably good. XXXX. Without any hesitation at all.

The silver stuff that is sold everywhere now for tubeless use seems to be simply a form of duck/duct/gaffer tape?

So not my idea of fun…

Quite right. My home compressor runs up to I think 10 bar before shutting off. One doesn't need all the pressure but the high flow sure helps with a tricky tyre. But I am pretty careful never to go over 4 bar when seating a tyre (usually the outer limit for MTB rims but sometimes they have a lower max pressure spec). Usually I get the loud "pop, pop" somewhere around 3.5 bar on Continental tyres.